The Magical Misadventures of Marco Diaz

To the Gate

Marco sat next to the Shaman as he guided the horses down an old trail through the woods. There wasn't room for all of them at the front of the caravan, so Salia and Ren had to sit inside the caravan. Marco couldn't help but smirk as he thought about the two sitting in an awkward silence. They were still a bit embarrassed over the kiss Ren had given her. Although, they'd probably be over it soon and be all over each other. Marco wasn't dumb, he knew how these things worked.

Marco glanced over at the Shaman beside him, "Hey, what's your name? I don't remember you saying what it was."

"Joseph."

"Oh, well, nice to meet you Joseph. I'm Marco."

Joseph only grinned, "I already know your name, Marco. I know all of your names."

Marco's face fell, a confused look spread on his face, "Huh?"

The Shaman pointed up at the sky, "Like I said before, I know everything."

Marco was silent for a bit before saying, "So you knew that Ren was really gonna kiss Salia, and you knew that they would have to sit alone in the caravan..."

"Right, isn't it halarious?"

Marco grinned mischievously, "What are they doing now?"

"Aren't you a little young to even know what kissing is?"

"I'm a teenager!" Marco cried.

"Really? I couldn't tell."

"I thought you said you knew everything!"

Joseph only threw his head back and laughed. One of the horses huffed in annoyance and tilted his head around to look back at Marco, "Don't listen to him, he doesn't know squat."

Marco's eyes grew wide, even though a talking horse was nothing compared to other things he had seen. "You can talk?"

"Duh," said the other horse, "What did you expect?"

"Some dumb horses probably," said the first.

They both neighed in laughter.

Joseph rolled his eyes, "The one on the left is Tilla, the other is Hun."

"I'm the smart one!" neighed Tilla.

"No she's not!" Hun scoffed.

"Both of you be quiet!" Joseph scolded, "You're giving me a headache!"

The horses both rolled their eyes and kept walking, pulling the caravan behind them.

They went along in silence, listening to the birds sing and wind rustling the leaves of the trees. The sun was setting just beyond the horizon. It was the most peace Marco had felt in a long time. Soon it was dark, and it was the crickets' turn to start their song. The stars twinkled in the night sky.

Stars.

Suddenly Marco was very, very homesick. He missed Star. He missed his parents. He missed Jackie. He just wanted to go home.

"Missing home, aye?" Joseph asked.

Marco nodded, "How did you know?"

"I know everything, remember?"

Marco sighed, "I just want to go home."

Joseph pulled on the reigns, stopping the horses. He jumped off the caravan and said, "We'll set up camp here. Go get your friends, I have something to tell you all."

Marco frowned, what was going on? What was this old man up to? Marco shrugged to himself and jumped down from his seat onto the dewy grass. Then he walked around the caravan and opened the door to get his friends. Salia was sitting on the floor, rummaging through some drawers. Ren was picking some food from his teeth. This was a lot different than what he thought they would be doing.